Daniel Austin
BBC Sport reporter

The thing is, there is little prospect of the video assistant referee (VAR) being removed from the Premier League, or having its remit reduced.

In 2024, 19 out of 20 top-flight clubs voted to keep VAR, with only Wolves voting against, having proposed the poll themselves.

In order for VAR to be scrapped, 14 out of the 20 Premier League clubs would have to vote against it following a new proposal for its abolition from a club.

Image source, Getty Images

We brought you one error that led to Arsenal dropping two points, well this time they got them back - albeit three years later.

Everton should have been awarded a penalty in their 1-0 defeat by the Gunners on 20 December, according to the Premier League's Key Match Incidents Panel.

Mikel Arteta's side were leading 1-0 in the 57th minute at the Hill Dickinson Stadium when William Saliba and Everton striker Thierno Barry clashed inside the area.

Barry got to the ball first, but his boot was kicked by Arsenal's French defender.

The panel voted 3-2 that the on-field decision by referee Sam Barrott to not award a penalty was incorrect.

It also voted 3-2 that video assistant referee (VAR) Michael Salisbury should have sent the match official to the monitor to change his decision.

Three panel members noted "Saliba carelessly kicks Barry with no contact on the ball" and they felt it was a clear and obvious error.

Everton manager David Moyes said: "It feels as though certain clubs get those decisions and other clubs don't."

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said he would only be satisfied if his side were given two points back for the VAR error that allowed Brentford's equaliser to stand in February 2023.

During the 1-1 draw at Emirates Stadium, Ivan Toney's 74th-minute goal was the subject of a VAR check by Lee Mason following Ethan Pinnock's challenge on Gabriel.

That incident was cleared but there was a suggestion that then Brentford midfielder Christian Norgaard was offside in the goal's build-up.

However, Mason did not use the system's lines that would have shown whether the Dane was offside or not, something that was later called "human error" in a statement by the PGMOL.

"It wasn't human error, it was not understanding your job," said Arteta.

"That's not acceptable, I'm sorry.

"It cost Arsenal two points that are not going to be restored so we are going to have to find those two points somewhere else in the league."

Mason was not selected for any Premier League matches the following weekend, and subsequently left the PGMOL by mutual consent, while PGMOL chief refereeing officer Howard Webb contacted Arsenal to "acknowledge and explain the significant error" that occurred.

The key issue for VAR is that those correct decisions do not stick in the memory, or stir up the same level of emotion, as the contentious moments...

Premier League

Whether or not the joy of watching football has been affected, the Premier League argues that statistics show VAR has enhanced match officials' decision making in the top flight:

"VAR delivers more correct decisions. In recent seasons, there have been around 100 correct VAR overturns per season - instances where goals would otherwise have been incorrectly awarded or disallowed, or red cards or penalties missed or wrongly given.

"The league applies a high threshold for VAR intervention, with the referee's call taking precedence. As a result, VAR is less intrusive in the Premier League than in other European leagues, including the Champions League, where VAR intervenes almost twice as often."

Image source, Getty Images

While there are a number of examples of VAR having made mistakes, there are far more examples of it being used correctly.

Technically, every incident that isn't highlighted as a mistake is VAR doing its job correctly.

But there are also instances where it's used correctly and yet still feels so very wrong...

In 2024, Championship side Coventry City were on the brink of completing the most historic of comebacks against Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final of all occasions.

They fought back from 3-0 down to take the game to extra-time before a goal in the 121st minute from Victor Torp looked to have completed one of the most incredible comebacks in football history.

VAR intervened and an offside was called on Haji Wright in the build-up, halting Coventry celebrations.

The Sky Blues ultimately fell to defeat in the penalty shoot-out.

While the decision to adjudge Wright offside was factually correct, the incident brought up a debate in itself about the joy being sapped out of the beautiful game.

Dale Johnson
Football issues correspondent

As mentioned, corners and second yellow cards will be added to the scope of the video assistant referee (VAR) for this summer's World Cup.

Measures to address loss of tempo in matches and cut down on time-wasting will also be introduced, including new countdowns on goal-kicks, throw-ins and substitutions.

The International Football Association Board (Ifab) approved the proposals at its annual general meeting at Hensol Castle in Wales in February.

The changes will come into force from 1 June and apply for the 2026-27 season.

The fans surveyed by the FSA span all 20 Premier League clubs and the majority are regular matchgoers, with more than half saying they attend at least 15 games a season.

Other key data from the survey includes:

• 72% of fans disagree that VAR has made refereeing more accurate
• 74% of fans believe the reasoning behind decisions made using VAR is not clear
• 86% of fans are worried about the expansion of VAR's remit
• 72% of fans are against using VAR to check if corners have been correctly awarded
• 52% of fans are against using VAR to check if second yellow cards have been fairly awarded

NB: VAR will be used to check corners and second yellow cards at this summer's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico

Thomas Concannon
Football Supporter Association's Premier League network manager

Supporters naturally raise their concerns and they fall on deaf ears far too much.

That's really disappointing, especially when all we hear is that the fans are the lifeblood of the game.

Don't just ignore what supporters are telling you in great numbers - that the enjoyment of football isn't there any more in comparison to what it used to be.

Just a reminder that we are talking about VAR because the Football Supporters Association has published a survey of just under 8,000 fans of the 20 sides currently in the Premier League.

Of those 8,000 supporters, three quarters said that they opposed the use of VAR in the top flight.

However, the Premier League said that its own research suggested supporters were "largely in favour of keeping VAR, but improving the way it is used".

A poll at the top of this page shows that readers are split, with 50% saying they do not support the use of VAR, while 10% do support it and 40% support its use, but say it needs tweaking.

We have had more than 800 messages from you guys this morning on this topic, keep your thoughts coming as we assess further reaction from the FSA, Premier League and current/former footballers, and look back at some of the contentious moments in VAR's brief history in the top flight...

Thomas Concannon
Football Supporter Association's Premier League network manager

We discuss refereeing in more detail than we ever have before, even though we have something that's supposed to make it even more accurate.

You can understand that the clubs and league want to try and make sure that the decisions are correct, because there's so much money involved, but it becomes a little bit hard to take for a supporter when they see a goal disallowed because there is a hair offside.

If it's not going to speed up and it's not going to take away the controversy of what we still debate nowadays, that's why the supporters are voting in the way that they have.

Image source, Getty Images

Liverpool asked the Premier League to review two key VAR decisions from their 2-2 draw with Everton in October 2020.

Manager Jurgen Klopp was angry after Jordan Henderson's late goal was ruled out for offside against Sadio Mane.

He also questioned how Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford had not been dismissed for a challenge that injured Virgil van Dijk early on.

The lunge resulted in a complete rupture of Van Dijk's anterior cruciate ligament, ending his season.

Pickford escaped punishment as Van Dijk was offside in the build-up.

VAR watched the incident back to look for said offside, and once the decision was given did not check for a possible red card.

The rules suggest Pickford could have been sent off for serious foul play, though this is a subjective call, and had they felt he was making a genuine attempt to play the ball it would not have been possible to award a red card.

Image source, Getty Images

Remember when goal-line technology felt futuristic for the Premier League?

That was first introduced in the 2013/14 season, but since then we've come a long way in bringing technology into the beautiful game.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) approved the use of VAR in official competitions in 2018. It was introduced in the Premier League for the 2019/20 season after being tested across EFL Cup and FA Cup fixtures the season before.

It was then unanimously agreed upon by Premier League's shareholders that VAR would remain for a second season and beyond at their Annual General Meeting in August 2020.

VAR was brought in earlier across Europe, with La Liga introducing the technology for the 2018/19 season.

But despite that being seven seasons ago, and the way referees use VAR evolving over that time, it remains one of the most divisive subjects in football.

Dale Johnson
Football issues correspondent

Refereeing mistakes on the field and through the video assistant referee have risen across most categories in this season's Premier League.

The Premier League's Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel declared another four errors by referees in its latest report, taking the total to 54.

At the same stage last season there had been 44 wrong or missed VAR interventions, or on-field mistakes which did not reach the threshold for a video review.

Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO) says the general trend is positive, with 70 mistakes after 30 games of the 2023-24 campaign.

But there have already been as many VAR errors this season (18) as in the whole of the last campaign - although with a quarter of the season left, that figure is much lower than the overall total for 2022-23 (38) and 2023-34 (31).

One area of improvement has been incorrect VAR reviews, which have fallen from four to three.

However, season-on-season there have been more missed VAR interventions (15), on-field errors (25) and incorrect second yellow card decisions (11).